BEAUTY: Clothing--Juun J.

Korean Modernist Juun J. likes to play with scale and at Paris Fashion Week, his SS '17 collection was blown up...and then duly shrunk down. Like fellow designers Rick Owens (here) and Demma Gvasalia at Balenciaga (here), he knows that coupling an inflated silhouette with a clinging piece creates tension. Good tension.

For this show, Juun J found inspiration in the G-suit, a garment with pressurized pouches that are inflatable with air or fluid, worn by fighter pilots and astronauts to enable them to withstand high forces of acceleration. Perhaps this idea of inflation and decompression accounts for the swing in scale and volume of the garments themselves...including an inventive nylon bomber jacket equipped with a built-in parachute!

The olive green color and lacings were the elements from the classic G-suit brought into Juun J's ultra-cool collection called Covered. The name of the collection on laced sweatshirts kicked off the show and then it made an appearance backward, along with other cryptic phrases: "Nothing stays covered," "Discover the covered," "Covered in mood," and most poetically, "Never get covered by another darkness. Illuminate your own light." Also of note is the double waistband. Other designers have employed this detail but I don't think I have seen it succeed as well as how Juun J shows it here: a higher khaki waistband peeks up over dress black or pinstripes, dress black peeks up over dark denim, and denim peeks up over olive drab. It's a great effect. Nothing stays covered...

http://www.juunj.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Rick Owens

No one does volume and shape the way Rick Owens does. In fact, it is possible that no one in fashion is doing anything like what Owens is doing.

Regular readers know of my admiration for the amazing Owens. He is not a "fashion designer," he is a sculptor (I mean that figuratively, but it can also be taken semi-literally with Owens recently launching his own product and furniture line). He has been true to his own aesthetic for many years now, unwavering in his singular vision which is a kind of minimalist, primal approach to what we as humans drape over our forms for protection and decoration.

For this SS '17 collection at Paris Fashion Week, he cited the work of legendary designer Madame Grès, best known for her floor-length draped Grecian goddess gowns and minimalistic draping techniques she created for her own house. Grès, born Germaine Émilie Krebs, was trained as a sculptress and regular readers know that one of the reasons I am drawn to fashion at this level is because it functions as sculpture. Fashion at this level is pure art and the shows are performance art.

So it is clear to see the wrapped and twisted Grecian forms from Madame Grès. At last season's Mastodon collection (seen here), Owens asked "How do I do volume in a men’s collection? Volume in a way that could pass." Mastodon was voluminous...bulky. Extreme. For this collection, titled Walrus, the volume has been tamed and made elegant. Where Grès created twists and rouched sections to compliment the body, Owens here uses similar devices to deconstruct the body, emphasizing muscle and tendon below the skin. It is at once a refined and raw statement.

Owens' own statement on the collection says:
THIS MEN’S SPRING COLLECTION IS TITLED ‘WALRUS’, AN EVOLUTION OF FALL’S COLLECTION NAME, ‘MASTODON’— EVOLUTION BEING THE KEY WORD HERE.
FASHION IS ALL ABOUT REFLECTING CHANGE AND CHANGES ARE HAPPENING. WE CAN FEAR CHANGE AND CLING TO THE SENTIMENTALLY FAMILIAR OR CHEERFULLY FLING OURSELVES INTO THE UNKNOWN. REMEMBER HOW THAT USED TO FEEL? I SUPPOSE I PROPOSE A LITTLE OF BOTH. I LIKE THINKING NEITHER IS WRONG.
JACKET LENGTHS ARE CROPPED WITH LENGTHENED SLEEVES TO CHANGE THE POSTURE AND LIFT THE TORSO UPWARDS WHILE PANTS SWIRL WITH VOLUME AND CASCADE, MELTING INTO THE GROUND. THESE CLOTHES ARE REACHING AND STRETCHING AND SWELLING AND FLOATING AND SWEEPING.

Like Balenciaga (here) and Juun J. (here) (as well as Bottega Veneta, here), Owens understands the power of contrast: tight, short cropped jackets, and fitted sequined pull overs set off the expansive, monumental trousers. And the set closed with some evening wear pieces that can be proudly worn to any formal function.

https://www.rickowens.eu

BEAUTY: Clothing--Balenciaga

For Balenciaga's first-ever actual menswear runway show at Paris Fashion Week (the house has only ever shown lookbooks for collections), newly appointed creative director Demma Gvasalia sent out a furiously arresting SS '17 collection based on an unfinished coat he found in the Balenciaga archives. Cristóbal Balenciaga had actually made the coat for himself but had never finished it...so Gvasalia did it for him, nearly 50 years later. Balenciaga was known for sparse, geometrical designs and this coat certainly falls within that purview. We don't really know exactly what the original coat looked like, but I think it is safe to assume that it had some of the same boxiness and volume so Gvalasia could riff. And riff he has done with a startling silhouette. The enormous shoulders and roomy cut of coats and jackets are brilliantly contrasted with cinched pieces plastered to the body. He has used a trick that all god artists should know and that is that when you contrast two things, that contrast highlights both original objects, making them stand out even more. The tight trousers and shorts make the roomy outerwear seem even bigger and the tight bodice-like tops are paired beautifully with loose, flowing trousers. And a fascinating detail slipped in late in the collection along with saturated jewel-toned fabrics actually sourced from a supplier who furnishes fabric for the Vatican: we see a bit of a white lace apron peeking out from under coats, lending an ecclesiastical flair. One wonders how and why this motif was discreetly added, although fashion journalist Alexander Fury links it to Cristóbal Balenciaga's devout Catholicism...but for me, when I hear of his devout Catholicism, all I can think of is the fact that he was a gay man, closeted to the world, participating in a religion that would have cast him out if had dared to share his true self. What a shame. But there was a sense of strange ceremony to the entire show--watch the video below, and listen for the strains of a liturgical choir creeping in just like the lace aprons.

And of course we cannot leave this collection without ogling the incredible shoes: a parade of amazing, knee-high, stacked-heel boots in velvet, leather, metallics, and python. WOW.

http://www.balenciaga.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Milano Moda Uomo, SS '17

Before we move on to Paris, here is a wrap up of some miscellaneous details from the Spring Summer '17 Milano Moda Uomo shows.

MP Massimo Piombo took his lookbook to the Indian Subcontinent as did many designers so far including Alexander McQueen (here), Craig Green (here), Casely-Hayford (here), and Astrid Anderson (here). Piombo's color choices on his kurta tops conjure images of India.

Bottega Veneta showed a lookbook with some gorgeous, extremely full trousers out of a nylon-ish material (or perhaps waxed cotton?) that made me recall a garment I have been obsessed with since 1978: the enormous, olive green, very high-waisted plastic trousers cinched with a wide belt David Bowie wore on his Isolar II-Low/Heroes-Stage World Tour. Oh, I have coveted those trousers for nearly 40 years now...

Now on to shoes:

Dolce and Gabbana's collection, while fun, well-done, and full of the usual staggering variations on a theme, did not thrill me. But the shoes are another matter. The motif for their SS '17 collection was a 1950s jazz night club in Palermo (they have to get that Italian angle in there, bless them, and I can't blame them...I'm Italian too...) and the loafers, lace ups, and sneakers came in metallic, sequins, and animal prints. I'll take one of each , please...

Les Hommes showed a beautiful studded Roman sandal in black and white leather. They are simply cool, that's all...

http://mpmassimopiombo.com/
http://www.bottegaveneta.com/
http://www.dolcegabbana.com/
http://www.bottegaveneta.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Daks

Filippo Scuffi at DAKS created a ravishing SS '17 collection shown at Milano Moda Uomo based on--yes, it is the most popular motif this season--the Indian Subcontinent. Glorious kurtas float and flutter over close-cut trousers. Suits come in dusty Madras plaids. And beautiful malas, silver jewelry, and wrist cuffs are the absolute perfect touch. I would wear each of these ensembles exactly as you see them. Just beautiful...
Click on each photo to see the details close-up.

http://www.daks.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Helen Anthony

Helen Anthony--a bespoke menswear brand named after one certain Anthony and his great-grandmother Helen who taught him tailoring from a young age--is a rising star on Savile Row. Anthony presented his first ready-to-wear collection last year and this newest collection for Spring Summer '17 at Milano Moda Uomo proved to be a sartorial spectacle. Divided into three sections with a recap epilogue, the collection shows a move toward intricate prints and ornate design. The first section, clearly inspired by Renaissance cathedrals and their accompanying stained glass and art, was a kaleidoscopic statement, at times almost worthy of Escher. The second section, full of dark velvet embroidered with Byzantine scroll work and designs is a bit of a puzzle. Models wore dark metallic make-up on their faces. Perhaps this is to evoke the idea of statuary? The third section took the idea of the embroidered garments into what feels like the 1970s, followed by a modern reinterpretation of the cathedral motif featuring a jacket and tunic top with images of Christ that look as if they came right from a modern, Brutalist church circa 1972.
Fascinating.

http://helenanthony.co.uk/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Gucci

Since Alessandro Michele took over as Creative Director at Gucci in January 2015, he turned the steering wheel of the house in a totally new and shocking direction. Despite the fact that he has worked for Gucci since 2002, hired by Tom Ford and then later serving as assistant to former Creative Director Frida Giannini, he broke with the aesthetic lineage of the house which was a kind of louche, 70s, jet-set, Studio 54 sort of luxury: sleek, sexual, yet based on tradition. One wonders if Michele had been planning his stylistic 180 the whole time. What on earth possessed him to dump the cocaine/private jet/Paris-New York vibe for an arty, loose, bohemian, gender-bending look with frilly collars, pussy bow blouses, and three-quarter length sleeves for men? His collections still reference the 70s so there is that. He has said, "The ’70s is the most powerful image, for me, for the brand," but whose 70s...which 70s?

Michele's previous FW '16-'17 collection was shown in a space completely wrapped in crimson, somehow a fitting color for a fall-winter collection. So for his Spring-Summer '17 collection just shown at Milano Moda Uomo, the show space was drenched in emerald green, which feels like an equally fitting color: a saturated, rich, jewel tone for a saturated, ornate collection. While Michele cited the 13th-century travelogue of Marco Polo, IL MILIONE as a reference for this collection, we have seen his penchant for Chinoiserie in other collections. But Marco Polo creeps into SS '17 with references to the ocean and sea travel. Witness prints based on Renaissance depictions of sea creatures and underwater animals (which brings to mind this SS '16 McQueen collection, previously here) along with sailor touches like the white and blue striped nautical shirt, and takes on the classic Greek fisherman cap and the French sailor cap.

The 70s were present in other Alessandro Michele collections, not only with color, style, and silhouette but with the inclusion of cartoon characters like Snoopy and Woodstock from "The Peanuts," previously seen here. For this collection, Michele incongruously incorporated Donald Duck into his lush Asian brocades (see him peeking out from rural Chinese landscapes or sharing shoulder space with a dragon), embroidered on evening jackets, and coupled with a lobster on loafers.

Shoes. Amazing.
Here is the aforementioned lobster/Donald Duck loafer, along with a fantastic Greek-style sandal whose sole is in the shape of a fish. Sequined appliqués of snakes and tiger heads look marvelous on silk and velvet slippers. And of course I love the studded t-strap sandals in plastic jelly and red, white, and blue leather.

https://www.gucci.com